Thinking Thankfully

Traditionally I am not a thankful person. This may turn some of you off right now.. but please stay with me, I promise (sort of) that you won't despise me at the end of this. But seriously.. traditionally 'thankfulness' is something that doesn't exactly reign over my thoughts day-to-day. Most of the time my thoughts are more like 'Geeze.. well if I was Jennifer Aniston I wouldn't even care about having Brad!" or "If I could just have a car that didn't leak every time it rained, then I would be satisfied" or "If I could just afford to go to all of those workshops then I would be much better photographer". Confessing all of that right now just made me realize that I'm probably not a fun person to hang out with. I'll work on that too.

This 'epiphany of thankfulness' happened yesterday while going through the study my small group is doing. The task of the day was to be challenged explore the joy of our faith, and to be aware of the things we have to be thankful for. After reading that I think I wanted to smack the author and be like "girl you don't even know me!", however I don't think that was the response she was getting at... so I decided to participate. This was hard since, like I said, I float around in a cloud of dissatisfaction most of the time. But after some careful meditation and mindful reflection... I became overjoyed with all that I have :) Really! I have a new joy over the big things, the little things, the things to come, the things that have happened.... etc. I made a list, just to be 'all serious and junk'. And the thing I've found about being conscious of what we have to be thankful for is that is causes you to be hyperaware of blessings throughout your day (and probably weeks and months). It's a pleasant state of mind to live in, and I challenge you to try it. Make your own list, nothing is too cheesy... heck, this morning I am thankful for the I :heart: Jim coffee mug in my house.

Here's my list:

1)Grace

2)my leaky car

3)coffee in the morning

4)the love of my friends

5)the ability to log on to Pandora every day

6) Chacos

7) My sight

8) My big ol' lips :)